Tollywood fraternity’s ‘no show’ at the ongoing 20th International Children’s Film Festival is disappointing. While the Tollywood fraternity barges into film festivals in all other countries, they have hardly spared a thought for an international film fest happening in their own backyard. None of them have cared to attend a single session at the ongoing International Children’s Film Festival.
Muthyala Ramdoss, General Secretary, Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC), says that the invitation was very casual. “Earlier, a personal and formal invitation was sent to all film governing bodies, but this time a simple invitation has been sent to us. See, the whole purpose of organising such festivals is to promote children’s films and encourage aspiring children filmmakers. So if such an event has to get great visibility, it needs collective participation. Being the secretary, I don’t have any information either; they are just organising things all by themselves and are only giving us passes. It is really unfortunate.”
However, P. Ram Mohan Rao, Chairman, Telangana State Film Development Corporation (TSFDC) argues that invitations have been properly extended to all the bodies. He explains, “We can’t go to everyone and invite them personally. We have sent around 500 invitations to various film governing bodies — Film Chamber, MAA, etc., but only five people have turned up. It is the duty of the respective governing bodies to invite filmmakers and celebrities, but I guess they are not interested.” Rao also feels that most of the Tollywood celebs do not look at the festival as something fitting for mainstream cinema.
Muthyala Ramdoss
“Earlier, a personal and formal invitation was sent to all film governing bodies. This time it was very casual. The purpose of organising such festivals is to promote children’s films and encourage children filmmakers. It needs collective participation. Being the secretary, I didn’t have any information!”
–Muthyala Ramdoss,
General Secretary, Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce
Ram Mohan Rao
“We can’t go to everyone and invite them personally. We sent around 500 invitations to various film governing bodies but only five people have turned up. A celebrity will grace the event only if he’s the guest of honour or an award winner or if their children are involved in the filmmaking process.”
– P. Ram Mohan Rao,
Chairman, Telangana State Film Development Corporation
Tollywood’s no show at ICFF
“If you call a celebrity, he’ll grace the event only if he’s the guest of honour or an award winner,” he says, adding, “Celebs come only if their children are involved in the filmmaking process. This year, I have been telling the governing bodies to let us know in advance if any filmmaker or a celebrity is coming so that we can reserve seats and celebs can avoid embarrassment. Since the last 10 years, we haven’t seen local producers or filmmakers gracing the event.”
Director Teja says that he found out about the festival only after reading the newspaper. He lashes out saying that the TSFDC is a redundant body. “I haven’t received an invitation neither from the Chamber nor from the Corporation. Moreover, TSFDC hasn’t been supporting films or doing anything for the development of films since the last 10 years. They are neither encouraging children’s films nor filmmakers. When the film chamber is looking into the problems of the film fraternity, what is the need for a body like TSFDC. I feel it is redundant and an outdated body.”
